For Moros, Dreams of Peace and Homeland Hanged in Balance in 2009

MANILA, Philippines — As the curtain was beginning to fall on 2009, the on-and-off peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) resumed in Kuala Lumpur, with both parties agreeing to begin talks on the drafting of a Comprehensive Peace Compact that would resolve the Moro question.

The year, however, drew to a close without any far-reaching movement in the GRP-MILF peace process.

After the disastrous halt to the 11-year-old peace negotiations in mid-2008, which resulted from the re-escalation of conflict provoked by the botched signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD) between the two parties, the entire peace process appeared to be in limbo, with practically no movement except steps toward the resumption of talks.

When the talks finally resumed in Kuala Lumpur on Dec. 8, 2009, the two parties agreed only to start negotiations on the drafting of a Comprehensive Peace Compact that would resolve the Moro question. The GRP and the MILF also committed to making the most of what may be achievable before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo steps down in 2010.

With this, the Moro people’s dreams of peace in a homeland of their own continue to hang in the balance.

More than 10 years of on-and-off peace negotiations between the GRP and the MILF almost ended in a disaster when the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD) between the two parties was aborted on Aug. 4, 2008, following the Supreme Court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order based on a petition filed by North Cotabato Governor Emmanuel Piñol and Zamboanga City Mayor Celso Lobregat.

North Cotabato and Zamboanga City are both covered by the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE), the autonomous area that the MILF wants to create, the scope of which would have been subjected to a plebiscite following the signing of the MoA-AD.

The non-signing of the MoA-AD gave rise to a re-escalation of armed confrontations between government troops and the MILF in Lanao del Norte, North Cotabato, and Maguindanao — provinces known to be strongholds of the MILF. Following the outbreak of renewed hostilities, the government ordered a manhunt for MILF commanders Abdurahman Macapaar a. k. a. Commander Bravo, Ameril Ombra Cato, and Alim Pangalian who have been dubbed as “rogue MILF commanders” and leaders of “lost commands.”

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruling late in 2008 declaring the MoA-AD as unconstitutional sent the negotiations back to the drawing board.

The re-escalation of conflict led to the displacements of entire communities in Central Mindanao.

As of April 2009, based on a report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, there are some 600,000 people who have been displaced in Central Mindanao since August 2008. This is higher than the numbers for Sudan (550,000), Kenya (500,000), Congo (over 400,000), Iraq (360,000), Pakistan (more than 310,000), Somalia (300,000), Colombia (270,000 as of June 2008), Sri Lanka (230,000), and India (220,000).

On July 29, 2009, chief negotiators Rafael Seguis of the GRP and Mohagher Iqbal of the MILF issued a joint statement in which they acknowledged the MoA-AD as “an unsigned and yet initialed document to reframe the consensus points with the end in view of moving towards the comprehensive compact to bring about a negotiated political settlement…” This was even as Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita had previously said that any agreement to be entered into by the two parties should be in accordance with the Constitution, and that the MILF’s demand for a BJE should pass through Congress as an “ordinary” piece of legislation.

On Sept. 15 last year, the GRP and MILF panels agreed on the formation of an International Contact Group (ICG) that will provide “critical support” to the peace negotiations in the wake of the escalating conflict.

About a month later, during her visit to the Philippines, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed her government’s wish that the GRP and the MILF be able to ink a peace pact before Arroyo finishes her term.

“This is a significant statement,” said MILF peace panel member Maulana Bobby Alonto in an interview. “It is an acknowledgement by the US government that the Bangsamoro question is a political problem which requires a political solution. The MILF is a non-state actor. The US is a state actor, and a superpower at that. So that is a significant statement coming from a statesman of the US. But let us see, because we cannot deny the fact that the US has strategic interests in this region.”

On Dec. 3, the two parties announced in a joint statement the establishment of the ICG, with its membership initially composed of Japan, the United Kingdom, and Turkey as member-countries and the Asia Foundation, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Conciliation Resources, and Muhammadiyah as international non-government organization (INGO) members.

When the peace negotiations resumed in Kuala Lumpur on Dec. 8, the GRP and the MILF agreed to start talks on drawing up a Comprehensive Peace Compact aiming to end the decades-old conflict in Mindanao. Both parties aimed for “maximum achievement” in the peace negotiations within the remainder of Arroyo’s term, which is expected to end on June 30 this year.

The GRP-MILF peace process has been going on and off for almost 11 years, and it no doubt still has a long way to go.

The issue of ancestral domain had early on emerged as the most contentious issue in the GRP-MILF peace negotiations, and for the MILF, the MoA-AD would have been a major accomplishment, or, as Iqbal described in a roundtable discussion with peace advocates in Quezon City, “evidence of accomplishment from more than 10 years of negotiations.”

At this point any real movement in the peace process would still have to proceed from a resolution of the ancestral domain question. How both parties can resolve an issue that has remained unresolved after more than a decade is a question that begs to be answered.

Will the formal resumption of their talks eventually bring a peace that is in accordance with the aspirations of the Moro people?

Alonto expressed hope that it will. “I cannot really say whether the peace talks will end up according to the expectations of our people, but we are hoping that we can achieve the aspirations that our people have,” he said. (Alexander Martin Remollino / Bulatlat.com)


Link:http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/01/11/for-moros-dreams-of-peace-and-homeland-hanged-in-balance-in-2009/

Woman Activist Held, Two Others In RP Watch List: Report

MANILA, Philippines - Balikbayan Dr Annalisa Vicente Enrile was on her way back to the United States on August 5 after a month’s stay in the Philippines, however, as she proceeded to the Immigration booth to have her passport exit-stamped, she was told that she could not get on the plane because she was on the watch list.

Enrile is the chairperson of GABRIELA Network USA (GABNet), a U.S.-based women’s group affiliated with the militant women’s group GABRIELA and the progressive party list group Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP). She is also a professor at the University of Southern California.

In a press conference Aug. 11 in Quezon City, Enrile said she believes she is being held because of her involvement with GABRIELA and for being part of a team that went to the country to probe the human rights record of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.

“I’m being held hostage,” Enrile told the media. “I cannot go back to my work and my family.”

After being told that she could not proceed to board her flight, Enrile said she was “sent and shuffled from one department to another.”

At the Immigration, she was told to get clearance from the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID).

On August 6 at the BID, Enrile was told to file an Affidavit of Denial.

On August 7, the BID told Enrile to get clearance from the Department of Justice (DoJ). At the DoJ, she was told to get another clearance from the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA). But at the NICA, she was directed to return to the BID.

On August 8 at the BID, Enrile was redirected to the DoJ. Enrile then sought the assistance of the Chief of American Citizens Service (CACS) at the U.S. Embassy who committed to help her.

The CACS gave the same message to American human rights activist and GABNet International Relations Officer Judith Mirkinson who went with Enrile at the embassy.

Enrile, Mirkinson and renowned international journalist Ninotchka Rosca are said to have been in the government’s watch list.

Rosca said the watchlist is an “intimidation tactic” by the Philippine government against “all overseas Filipinos who continue to love and fight for this country.”

“I am exceedingly irritated with the watchlist which has infringed into my private time with my family,” Rosca said. Rosca said she is here to attend the Women’s International Solidarity Affair in the Philippines which was held from July 30 to August 5 to launch her latest book and to visit her 98-year old mother.

Meanwhile, GWP Rep. Liza Maza said the hold order against the three women activists is a serious matter which can be a precedent to gauge the effectiveness of the Human Security Act of 2007 (HSA 2007), the newly passed anti-terror law.

“Before the HSA,nobody cannot be held without charges,” Maza explained. But with the HSA, Maza said anybody can be held on mere suspicion. “This makes this incident dangerous,” she added.

“This is pure political harassment undermining GABRIELA’s international work,” the party list representative said.

GWP, which was able to land two seats in the House of Representatives, topped the party list votes of absentee voter’s in the 2007 mid-term elections.

Rosca and Mirkinson are scheduled to leave the country on August 14.

“We hope not to be held at the airport and we’ll make sure Dr. Enrile is coming with us,” Rosca said. (Dabet Castaneda/Human Rights Watch/Bulatlat)

Search For Missing Activist Continues, Supports Mounting!

Photo by Bulatlat.

The Free Jonas Burgos Movement (FJBM) calls on all our colleagues in the artists' and writers' circle to manifest their support in our call to the AFP, PNP and the GMA government to double their effort in locating Jonas Joseph Burgos, son of late press freedom icon Jose "Joe" Burgos, who was abducted on April 28, 2007 at the Ever Gotesco Mall in Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

We are humbly soliciting your signatures in support of our call to surface Jonas and all "desaparecidos" and demand justice for all the victims of human rights violations of the current regime and previous governments in our country.

We are hopeful that we would be united in this call. Every name counts. You count.To sign, please send your name at freejonasburgosmovement@yahoo.com.

For more information call 063 4546468. Please pass to all fellow artists and writers. Free Jonas Burgos. Free all Desaparecidos.

Jonas Burgos, the son of the late press freedom fighter Joe Burgos, has kept himself in low profile for all his years spent teaching farmers about natural and self-sustaining farming techniques. But now even his captors may have been caught by surprise at the national and international furor his abduction generated.

His abduction immediately made the headlines. And that may be due to his surname. Jonas Burgos, the son of the late press freedom fighter Joe Burgos, has kept himself in low profile for all his years spent teaching farmers about natural and self-sustaining farming techniques. But now even his captors may have been caught by surprise at the national and international furor his abduction generated.

The closest Jonas would get to follow the footsteps of his journalist father was to delve into photojournalism, Jonas’ younger brother, JL, told Bulatlat in an interview during an indignation rally held May 4 at the People Power Monument along the Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA).

More than a hundred friends and supporters marched at least two kilometers along EDSA to demand the safe and immediate release of Jonas who was abducted April 28 in broad daylight, 12 noon, inside the Ever Gotesco Mall along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

Witnesses testified that the younger Burgos was accosted by two unidentified men and was “held by the hands and feet” and taken to a waiting van outside the mall.

The Burgos family has been searching for him since but his whereabouts remains undetermined.

Human rights groups and old friends of the family since Martial Law accused state security agents of being behind Jonas’ enforced disappearance. The military top brass had denied the accusation while police authorities have vowed to locate the missing Jonas.

Farmer-activist

Jonas, the third of five children, took up political science at the San Beda College. “Pero hindi nya tinapos,” JL said, “kasi ang hilig nya talaga ay ang pagsasaka.” (But he did not complete his course because he was really interested in agriculture.)

He may have taken the passion for farming from their parents, JL said. Their parents plant organic palay (unhusked rice grain), corn, vegetables and fruit bearing trees in their 12-hectare agricultural lot in Barangay Tartaro, San Miguel town in the province of Bulacan.

The 36-year-old Jonas finished BS Agriculture at the Benguet State University. After which, he helped manage their farm especially when his father got ill. The older Burgos died of stroke in November 2003 and left the farm to his wife, Edith, and their five children.

By then, Jonas had been sharing his knowledge to his barrio mates and introduced organic farming to peasants in their town and other surrounding areas. He had since been a member of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB or Alliance of Concerned Peasants in Bulacan), the local chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or Peasant Movement of the Philippines) in the province.

“Nung bata pa kami, nagpakita na si utol ng pagmamalasakit sa kapwa,” (Even when we were still children, my brother had already shown his concern for others.) JL said as he remembers his brother taking the slippers of their father and giving it to an elderly woman knocking at their door for alms.

During their younger years, JL said, they also helped in their family’s rice advocacy campaign for high school students who went to their farm for summer exposure.

The difference

Two weeks before Jonas was abducted, JL said, he and Jonas talked about the intensifying political situation that has led to unabated killings, disappearances and harassment of political activists.

“Alam namin delikado lahat ng aktibista pero hindi namin inisip na may mangyayari sa kanya,” (We knew that it is dangerous for activists but we did not think that something would happen to him.) JL said shaking his head. He said his family did not notice any obvious threat against Jonas until he went missing.

“Lumaki kami na hinaharas ang tatay namin at ang buong pamilya,” (We grew up in a situation where our father and the whole family was being harassed.) JL said. Their parents were then publishers of one of the first anti-dictatorship newspaper during Martial Law, the We Forum.

The older Burgos, however, was not able to evade Martial Law authorities for long. Their press office was raided by the Metropolitan Command (Metrocom) on December 7, 1982 and Joe Burgos, together with the editors and staff of We Forum, was arrested and stayed in prison for almost a year.

“Pero nung martial law, may warrant of arrest nung kinuha nila ang tatay ko. Ngayong sinasabi na nagbalik na ang demokrasya, ngayon lang may nawala sa pamilya namin at hindi ito panahon ng martial law,” (During Martial Law they had a warrant when they arrested my father. It is ironic that it is now when democracy was supposedly restored that one of our family members was forcibly disappeared. And it is not even Martial Law.) JL said.

Missing in Bulacan

The province of Bulacan counts for the most number ofmissing individuals since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo held power in 2001. Jonas is the 26th victim of enforced disappearance in the province.

Victims of forced disappearances in Bulacan included Bernie Santos, a farmer from the town of San Miguel who was abducted April 24, 2005 allegedly by soldiers of the First Scout Ranger Regiment (FSRR) based in Camp Tecson; farmer Manuel Merino and University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Emepeño who were roused from sleep and were dragged to a jeepney-type vehicle before dawn of June 26, 2006.

Ricardo Valmocina Jr. and Robin Solano who were abducted inside the CV Tamayo Farms in Barangay Pinaod, San Ildefonso town; and jeepney driver and Anakpawis provincial coordinator Emerito Lipio who was abducted July 3, 2006.

Oscar Leuterio, a security guard of the Metal Ore Company in the town of Doña Remedios Trinidad was also abducted April 17, 2006 and was held incommunicado for five months inside a safehouse in Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, the headquarters of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army (ID PA).

He was released on September of the same year when he agreed to work for the military.

Leuterio, however, sought the assistance of human rights groups and instead testified in court that he saw several victims of abductions inside the same safehouse. He now serves as witness to the abduction of the two UP students who, Leuterio said, were also seen inside the Fort Magsaysay headquarters.

There are 199 victims of enforced disappearance from Jan. 2001 to May 2007, records from the human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of Peoples’ Rights) show. (With reports from Dabet Castaneda of Bulatlat)